Why Southern Kaduna Killings and Crisis May Persist – CAN

The office of the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has opened up in a statement on the reasons why the killings in southern Kaduna may not end soon.

In an official statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by Adebayo Oladeji, the Special Assistant (Media and Communication), to the President of CAN, Dr. Samson Ayokunle, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said the killings in southern Kaduna will not end as long as security agencies refuse to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators.

According to Punch Metro, CAN also called on Nigerians to support its Trust Fund because “it is the answer to the paucity of funds for operation”, adding that without sufficient funds, its leadership would not be able to discharge its constitutional responsibilities, including the Save Our Souls plea from its members.

Dr. Samson Ayokunle who expressed this feeling during the just-concluded meeting of its National Executive Committee, said; “Despite the curfew and the presence of the police and the other security agencies in the volatile zone, the killings remain unabated. CAN is, therefore, calling on its members to continue to pray for a permanent restoration of peace in southern Kaduna.

“We are disappointed in the unending killings and the treatment of those responsible with kid gloves. All of us should organise prayers again and if possible with fasting to seek the intervention of God so that this senseless destruction of human beings may stop.

“I think what has encouraged this type of carnage in southern Kaduna is the inability of the law enforcement agents to apprehend the criminals responsible for these killings and, if they were apprehended at all, they were not conclusively prosecuted.

“We have heard these days, the law enforcement agents saying that the criminals are “unknown gunmen”. Whose duty is it to know them? Is it not the law enforcement agents?”

He also explained the plans being put in place by the national secretariat of CAN to provide relief materials for the victims of the carnage in both southern Kaduna and the Agatu community of Benue State.

“We are planning to visit southern Kaduna to distribute relief materials to the victims of the massacre there. We planned to do this earlier and choose a date but we couldn’t go because we received a security report that it was not safe to do so. We would also visit the Agatu community in Benue State to distribute relief materials,” he said.

The CAN President also charged Christians not to stop praying for President Muhammadu Buhari, the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and for a quick recovery of the economy.

He said, “We should organise prayers, if possible, a vigil at every state secretariat of CAN to pray for our country at a chosen date and the FCT CAN should come to the national secretariat for their own. In each centre, the governor of the state or his representative should be invited to such a prayer meeting. With the way our economy is going and violence is increasing without much answer from the law enforcement agents, we need a divine intervention.”

CAN also noted with dismay the destruction of church buildings in some parts of the country while law enforcement agents seemed powerless.

“Churches were destroyed in Jigawa on the excuse that they did not get building permits whereas they had applied for many years without being given the permit. Recently, a Redeemed Christian Church of God building was burnt down in Dei-Dei here in Abuja very early in the morning. What shall we do to these continuous provocations without any visible action by the law enforcement agents?,” it said.

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Manuel Chukwudi (@manuelchukwudi) holds a bachelors degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. A lifetime bibliophile, ardent football and lawn tennis fan (doesn't get onto the pitch or court though), he blogs for Naija Gospel Radio.